Abstract:
Hygge is the act of comfort and wellbeing derived from Danish culture, influencing the world and illustrating joy through the simplicity of daily life. It is an emotional atmosphere created through the notion of appreciation within the essential necessities of one’s daily routine. The Danes are known to be the happiest people in the world, their culture of appreciating simplicity and comfort through warmth and togetherness alone has influenced other cultures in the world to shift their views on life. This is illustrated by their way of life and architectural history. The Scandinavian architecture methodology of design is to create for the given environment; it created the architects to inhabit the unbearable temperature drops and orientate the minimal amount of natural lighting provided in the daytime.The definition developed within the thesis is that of the paradigm of atmospheric qualities: Hygge is the act of comfort and belonging through the sense of intimate togetherness, the absence of annoyance and warmth in the state of imperfection. Working within the conditions of the definition, this thesis will allow one to feel the sense of comfort and warmth in a cityscape. Without a given site, this thesis will create within the parameters of unused space between buildings. Revolving around the personalised subjective definition of hygge through three figures, context, movement and environment. These purposed designs are the successfully tested narratives of one moving from the given context through the atmospheric shift into the hygge moment. Hygge can neither be forced; it is a subjective happening. However, this thesis has created a space that blurs the lines of reality and fantasy, inhabiting one’s desire to pause and feel the act of comfort without the literal holiday, or the therapeutic coffee break.